It has heretofore been proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,487,312 and 4,712,680 to provide a semi-rigid one-piece carrier of as-made plastic composition having a top wall or panel with a plurality of openings for receiving the necks or finishes of containers to be carried, and a skirt depending from the periphery of the top wall around the shoulders of the containers. Although carriers of such design have enjoyed substantial commercial acceptance and success, further improvements remain desirable. For example, a problem is encountered during purchase of a carrier and container assembly concerning scanning of UPC indicia for automatically identifying price information on the assembly. The individual containers typically have UPC bar code indicia printed on the container labels, for which information is stored concerning the price of the individual filled containers, while UPC indicia associated with the entire container package may be printed or affixed to the carrier. If the indicia on one of the containers is scanned for pricing purposes, the assembly of multiple containers will be grossly underpriced.
It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide a carrier and container assembly in which UPC indicia on the individual containers is wholly or partially obscured by the carrier so as to prevent reading of the container UPC indicia as relating to the entire container and carrier package. Another object of the present invention is to provide a carrier for use in conjunction with plural containers having UPC indicia disposed at predetermined locations thereon, and a method of using such a carrier, such that the carrier prevents scanning of the container UPC indicia. Another object of the present invention is to provide a carrier for a carrier and container assembly having an extended skirt portion on which UPC indicia associated with the carrier container assembly and/or other advertising declaration may be provided.
A carrier for containers, such as filled beverage containers of predetermined size and configuration having labels thereon at predetermined position, in accordance with a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, includes a one-piece as-made body of plastic composition having a flat top wall portion with a periphery and a plurality of openings for receiving and carrying the necks of the containers. A sidewall portion extends entirely around the periphery of the top wall portion and depends therefrom, having a dimension perpendicular to the top wall portion sufficient to cover at least a portion of the label on a container received in one of the openings. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the carrier skirt comprises a plurality of first wall portions extending from the top wall portion entirely around the periphery of the top wall portion and contoured to receive the containers. A second wall portion extends from and interconnects the first wall portions, with the second wall portion having a dimension perpendicular to the top wall portion at least twice that of the interconnecting first wall portions.
A carrier and container assembly in accordance with a presently preferred embodiment of the invention thus includes a plurality of containers of identical size and geometry, and having identical labels with UPC indicia identically positioned thereon. A carrier of one-piece as-made plastic composition has a flat top wall with openings into which the containers are fastened such that the containers depend from the top wall, and a skirt that extends entirely around the periphery of the top wall and depends therefrom for a distance sufficient at least partially to cover the UPC indicia on the labels of the containers. UPC indicia associated with the carrier and container assembly is externally positioned on the carrier skirt. A further aspect of the present invention thus contemplates a method of preventing scanner reading of UPC indicia on the individual containers in a carrier and container assembly by dimensioning the skirt of the carrier in a direction perpendicular to the carrier top wall at least partially to cover and obscure the UPC indicia on the container labels when the containers depend from the top wall of the carrier.